The present invention relates to a rotary cutting tool. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rotary tool for drilling or routing of hard materials such as marble, granite, stone or ceramics.
In the past, during cutting operations for forming internal shapes in marble panels or the like, there has been a need for drilling holes and cutting of contoured shapes, such as, for providing for a basin in a marble countertop. With the increased uses of granite, marble and the like materials today, the need for and utility of such tools has greatly increased.
The method for forming such shapes, in the past, has been to first drill a hole with a rotary or core drill in the marble or ceramic panel. Thereafter, the drill is replaced with a routing tool to cut the desired shape in the marble or ceramic sheet. In manufacturing operations such a two step process is costly due to the time requirements for changing tools and due to the requirement of having two types of cutting bits to keep in inventory for use.
These costs could be substantially reduced if a single tool could be utilized to effectively accomplish both drilling and routing functions. Such a tool is advantageously provided in the present invention.